Our Alaska contibutor TG is incensed by the alleged hypocrisy of State Sen. Leland Yee, a gun control advocate who has been charged with conspiring to traffic in firearms and public
corruption as part of a major FBI operation. Lee and an intermediary allegedly met repeatedly
with an undercover FBI agent, soliciting campaign contributions in
exchange for setting up a deal with international arms dealers. At
their first face-to-face meeting in January, "Senator Yee explained he
has known the arms dealer for a number of years and has developed a
close relationship with him," an FBI affidavit says, noting Yee told the
agent the arms dealer "has things that you guys want."Yee,
D-San Francisco, highlights a series of arrests Wednesday morning that
included infamous Chinatown gangster Raymond "Shrimp Boy" Chow, whose
past includes a variety of charges including racketeering and drug
crimes. Targets of the early-morning raids appeared in federal court in
San Francisco on Wednesday afternoon.A 137-page criminal
complaint charges 26 people -- including Yee and Chow -- with a panoply
of crimes, including firearms trafficking, money laundering,
murder-for-hire, drug distribution, trafficking in contraband
cigarettes, and honest services fraud.Yee is charged with
conspiracy to traffic in firearms without a license and to illegally
import firearms, as well as six counts of scheming to defraud citizens
of honest services. Each corruption count is punishable by up to 20
years in federal prison and a fine of up to $250,000, while the
gun-trafficking count is punishable by up to five years and $250,000.The
charges are particularly shocking given that Yee has been among the
state Senate's most outspoken advocates both of gun control and of
good-government initiatives."It seems like nobody knew this was
coming, and everyone is astounded by the allegations," said Corey Cook,
director of the University of San Francisco's Leo T. McCarthy Center for
Public Service and the Common Good. "I'm just astonished... Political
corruption is one thing, but this is a whole other level." [Source]
